Foreign Reinsurer Banco Shielded by FSIA, Ill. Judge Reiterates

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge has refused to amend his order that Banco de Seguros del Estado need not post security before answering a complaint filed by Pine Top Receivables LLC in a $2 million reinsurance dispute.

On Feb. 5, Judge Marvin E. Aspen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois reiterated that Banco, an instrumentality of the Republic of Uruguay, is immune under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act because the prejudgment security is an “attachment” within the meaning of the act.

Between 1977 and 1984, Banco entered into a number of reinsurance contracts with …